Fig. 1
From: Robustness of sepsis-3 criteria in critically ill patients
Hypothetical cases showing the influence of variations in organ failure definitions. SOFA = Sequential Organ Failure Assessment. The onset of infection (i.e., start of empirical antibiotic therapy) is day 0. Case 1 does not fulfill the sepsis-3 definition as there is no SOFA score increase of ≥ 2 points within the 4-day (or 2-day) time-window. However, case 1 fulfills the criteria if sepsis is defined by the presence of an absolute SOFA score of ≥ 2 (both in the 4-day and 2-day time-window). Case 2 fulfills the sepsis-3 criteria since there is an increase of ≥ 2 points between day 0 and day 1. In a reduced time-window, there is no increase observed between the day before infection and day of the onset of infection, and sepsis-3 criteria are not met